Ing. David Juřička, Ph.D.
Leader of the Mongolia Expedition Project
Academic researcher at the Department of Geology and Pedology, Faculty of Medicine, MENDELU. He completed his doctoral studies at the Faculty of Forestry in the field of Forest Ecology. He has been going to Mongolia to carry out forestry research since 2009. Since 2014, he has been regularly organizing and carrying out scientific research expeditions to Mongolia once or twice a year. In 2018, he succeeded in the Erasmus + ICM grant call, thanks to which 10 Mongolian forestry students in the Czech Republic were able to study in the 2019/2020 academic year. Since 2008 he has been participating as an organizer / co-organizer of scientific conferences Scientific research of Mongolia and Central Asia organized at LDF MENDELU. He specializes in forestry and environmental topics. It deals with the issue of rejuvenation of forest stands and their damage by livestock. Succession in forest and non-forest habitats. Alternative methods of afforestation of arid areas. The risk of melting permafrost and desertification of the landscape.
Ing. Václav Pecina
Mongolia Expedition Project Manager
Researcher at the Department of Agrochemistry, Soil Science, Microbiology and Plant Nutrition AF MENDELU and a doctoral student in Environmental Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry, BUT. Graduate of European Forestry at LDF MENDELU. Since 2014, he has been participating in scientific expeditions to Mongolia, aimed at researching the degradation of permafrost and forest ecosystems, the issue of grazing and environmental contamination. As a co-organizer, he participated in the Scientific Research of Mongolia and Central Asia conferences organized at LDF MENDELU. He specializes in contamination of the environment with heavy metals, degradation of forest ecosystems, possibilities to combat aridization of the landscape and improvement of cultivation practices in agriculture.
Ing. Antonín Kusbach, Ph.D.
Leader of an expert project in Mongolia
Teacher-expert in ecology, forest classification and management. He co-investigated the project of the so-called Norwegian Funds "Frameworks and possibilities of forest adaptation measures and strategies related to climate change (FrameAdapt)" 2015-2016 at MENDELU and the successful development project "Forest development and gene pool of local forest tree ecotypes in Mongolia 2015-2018" ANGLE). He is currently working with a team of experts on the CRA project "Mongolian Forestry in Development: Elevated skills in forest planning and management" and ERASMUS. In the past, he was a co-researcher and participated in the successful solution of a number of projects in the Czech Republic and abroad - for example, the project of the Ministry of Agriculture "GIS pro Kamčatku" in 1997-1999. He has more than 20 years of experience in forest management (ÚHÚL). After studying at USU, he has been working at MENDELU as an academic researcher since 2013. He teaches forest classification, geobiocoenology, landscape ecology and an expert block (two subjects in English).
Ing. Jan Šebesta, Ph.D.
Leader of an educational project in Mongolia
Academic member at the Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry, MENDELU. He was the researcher of the Development of the Internationalization of the Research Environment of Mendel University, in which he completed a six-month research stay at Utah State University in the USA in 2018, and the researcher of the Forestry-Landscape Training Course in Mongolia. He was a co-investigator and participated in the successful solution of a number of projects in the Czech Republic and abroad - Harmonization of lowland meadow forestry as a tool for maintaining species diversity of higher plants, Implementation of science and research into teaching, Frameworks and possibilities of forest adaptation measures and change strategies Climate Change (FrameAdapt), and others. He has been teaching botany at MENDELU for more than 10 years, specializing in the relationship between forest management and vegetation, forest dynamics, and statistical data processing.